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Motor Control in Everyday Actions presents 47 true stories that illustrate the phenomena of motor control, learning, perception, and attention in sport, physical activity, home, and work environments. At times humorous and sometimes sobering, this unique text provides an accessible application-to-research approach to spark critical thinking, class discussion, and new ideas for research. The stories in Motor Control in Everyday Actions illustrate the diversity and complexity of research in perception and action and motor skill acquisition. More than interesting anecdotes, these stories offer concrete examples of how motor behavior, motor control, and perception and action errors affect the lives of both well-known and ordinary individuals in various situations and environments.

Readers will be entertained with real-life stories that illustrate how research in motor control is applicable to real life:

Choking Under Pressure examines information processing and how it changes under pressure.

The Gimme Putt shows how Schmidt’s law can be used to predict the accuracy of golf putts.

Turn Right at the Next Gorilla examines inattention blindness and its role in traffic accidents.

The Farmers’ Market describes reasons why a man drives his car through a crowded open-air market, killing and injuring dozens of shoppers in the process.

Craps and Weighted Bats describes the curious role of myths and superstition in how we play games.

And 42 other examples of motor control in everyday actions will both entertain and inform.

Each story is followed by a set of self-directed activities that are progressively more complex. These activities, plus the additional notes and suggested readings and websites at the conclusion of each story, provide a starting point for critical thinking about the reasons why human actions sometimes go awry. A reader-friendly writing style and easy-to-follow analysis and conclusions assist students in gaining mastery of the issues presented, conceptualizing new research projects, and applying the content to current research.

The stories are grouped into three parts, beginning with situations involving errors and mistakes in perception, action, or decision making. Next, stories investigating varied techniques for studying perception and action are presented. The remaining scenarios provide readers with a look at research focusing on the motor learning process as well as some of the unexpected discoveries resulting from those investigations.

Motor Control in Everyday Actions will engage its readers—not only through the central topic of the story but also in the fundamental concepts involving perception, action, and learning. Used as a springboard for new research or as a catalyst for engaging discussion, Motor Control in Everyday Actions offers perspectives that will enhance understanding of how human beings interact with their world.

Contents

Part I. Stories About Perception and Action Gone Wrong

Chapter 1. Perceptual Errors

The Magnetic Hill How do visual illusions distort perception and influence action?

The Farmers' MarketWhat are the roles of motor error and hypervigilance in unintended acceleration accidents?

The Grocery Store How do population stereotypes shape our interactions with manufactured environments?

Push or Pull?How do product designs influence people to perform specific actions?

Chapter 2. Decision Errors

Friendly FireWhat role did decision errors play in the death of Patrick Tillman?

Method to His BratnessDid John McEnroe's verbal abuse of line judges influence their decisions?

Choking Under PressureWhat changes in information processing cause athletes such as Jean Van de Velde to fail under pressure?

Turn Right at the Next GorillaWhat is inattention blindness, and what role does it play in common traffic accidents?

Chapter 3. Action Errors

The CalculatorHow can product designs accommodate Fitts' law?

The Gimme PuttCan Schmidt's law be used to predict the accuracy of golf putts?

Pouring CoffeeHow does the information-processing rate create a speed–accuracy trade-off?

Is the Bean Dizzy?What do Spoonerisms reveal about motor control?

Part II. Adventures in Perception and Action

Chapter 4. Fun With Numbers

Public Opinion PollsWhat do central tendency, variability, and statistical significance mean in the context of motor research?

The KeypadHow do explicit and implicit memories influence skilled performance?

Wayne GretzkyWhat role does skilled perception play in sport performance?

Chapter 11. Skill Retention

Shooting Two From the LineHow does the warm-up decrement affect repeated performances?

Like Riding a BicycleHow are motor skills stored in memory?

H.M.What does the amnesia suffered by Henry Gustav Molaison reveal about memory and motor skills?

Audiences

A supplemental text for undergraduate and graduate motor behavior, motor learning, and motor control courses. Also a reference for academic libraries and researchers.

Timothy D. Lee, PhD, is a professor in the department of kinesiology at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario. Lee, whose research on practice and motor learning has been frequently cited, is the author of more than 80 research papers in peer-reviewed publications in the area of motor control and learning. He is also the coauthor, along with Richard Schmidt, of the seminal text Motor Control and Learning: A Behavioral Emphasis, now in its fifth edition.

Lee is the former president of the Canadian Society for Psychomotor Learning and Sport Psychology and also a former editor of both Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport and Journal of Motor Behavior. As an amateur golfer, Lee was ranked 22nd among senior golfers in Ontario in 2010. He also enjoys playing right wing for the Dundas Oldtimer ice hockey team and is a blues music enthusiast. Tim and his wife, Laurie Wishart, reside in Ancaster, Ontario.